Saturday in AAA: Rough 1st Inning Does In McHugh, 51s

The Tacoma Rainiers pounded out six consecutive hits to open the 1st inning off Las Vegas starter Collin McHugh, scoring five times. McHugh settled down after that point, lasting seven innings without surrendering another run. However, the 51s offense managed just a pair of solo homeruns from cf Kirk Nieuwenhuis and rf Andrew Brown against Tacoma right hander Jeremy Bonderman and lost the ballgame 8-2.

Despite the rough 1st inning, McHugh was solid the rest of the night. After the first six batters reached, he retired 16 in a row and only gave up one more hit before being lifted after 7. The loss was McHugh’s first of the season (2-1) and his era went from 1.93 to 2.97.

Final line for McHugh: 7IP 7H 5R 5ER 1BB 4K

The homerun for Nieuwenhuis was his first since being demoted. He was 1 for 3 at the plate and is now 3 for 12 with two rbi in three games with the 51s. Brown’s 4th inning long ball was his first of the campaign. He’s hit safely in seven straigh games and is batting .341 with a team leading 19 runs batted in.

The Rainiers padded their lead in the top of the 9th, scoring three times off Vegas reliever Greg Peavey. Only one of the runs was earned because of an error from ss Brian Bixler.

The 51s loss was their 4th in a row, dropping their record to 10-11. It’s the first time they’ve been below .500 since they were 6-7.